Newcastle edged previous Birmingham Metropolis in a match at St.Andrews, securing a 3-2 victory to advance within the FA Cup.
The hosts took the lead inside one minute via Ethan Laird, earlier than Joe Willock and Callum Wilson introduced the tie again into the Magpies’ favour.
Tomoki Iwata then drew Birmingham stage simply earlier than half-time, however a late Willock second meant it could be the Premier League facet advancing.
Eddie Howe made 9 modifications to the facet that beat Arsenal within the second leg of their EFL Cup semi-final on Wednesday evening and the reshuffled guests failed their first take a look at within the opening minute.
A Birmingham nook was nodded again into the centre and Laird was readily available to fireside residence by way of a deflection off Wilson.
St. Andrew’s was bouncing and the house facet nearly made it 2-0 after 14 minutes courtesy of one other set-piece.
Marc Leonard’s free-kick was helped on by Alex Cochrane for Keshi Anderson and his beautifully-timed volley from the sting of the realm introduced an excellent one-handed save from Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope.
Having regarded disjointed and toothless within the first half of the opening interval, Newcastle carved out a controversial equaliser from their first assault of be aware.
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— Newcastle United (@NUFC) February 8, 2025
Wilson crossed from the left and, after William Osula pulled it again on the far put up, Willock stabbed the ball goalwards with Bailey Peacock-Farrell making a save from behind the road.
The assistant referee was fast to adjudge the ball had gone in though replays had been inconclusive.The purpose deflated Birmingham and Newcastle capitalised by going forward nearly instantly.
Once more there was a component of chaos about it as Wilson’s preliminary effort from Tino Livramento’s cross was blocked on the road by his personal man in Osula earlier than the previous England striker poked residence the rebound.
The house facet had been wobbling and the identical assistant referee that had angered them earlier got here to their rescue by rightly ruling out a Willock purpose for offside.Birmingham had barely ventured into the Newcastle half for 20 minutes however they must have levelled out of nowhere.
Anderson escaped down the left and whipped in an ideal cross for Jay Stansfield however the £15million striker by some means planted his header vast from six yards when fully unmarked.
Scott Wright ought to have achieved higher than scuff his effort straight at Pope following good work from Iwata, forcing the Japanese midfielder to take issues into his personal fingers minutes later.
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— Newcastle United (@NUFC) February 8, 2025
Newcastle might solely partially clear a cross from Birmingham’s left and Iwata latched onto the unfastened ball to fireside a surprising shot into the roof of the online from 25 yards.
The second interval began with Newcastle asserting management, dominating possession and maintaining their hosts pinned again. Nonetheless, a sequence of stoppages disrupted the movement, together with a prolonged delay for Birmingham’s Leonard, who suffered a serious-looking leg harm after a problem with Lewis Miley.
As play resumed, each groups struggled to carve out clear-cut probabilities amid an more and more scrappy affair. The match turned extra bodily, with a flurry of yellow playing cards issued to each side as tensions rose.
Regardless of Birmingham’s efforts to push ahead, Newcastle discovered the breakthrough within the 82nd minute. Willock, who had began the transfer, continued his run and capitalised on a lucky deflection to fit the ball beneath Peacock-Farrell, restoring the guests’ lead.
Birmingham fought exhausting to reply, launching lengthy balls ahead and urgent excessive within the last moments. A dramatic clearance off the road by Dowell denied Murphy a decisive purpose, whereas Nick Pope produced a vital save to keep up Newcastle’s benefit as stoppage time stretched past 12 minutes.
Regardless of their spirited combat, Birmingham in the end fell quick, and Newcastle’s Premier League high quality shone via in a gritty, hard-fought second half that noticed them progress to the following spherical.
